Han Solo Jacket Surprisingly Fails to Sell at London Prop Auction

It seems the price was just a little too steep for a piece of original Star Wars trilogy history. A jacket, the one Harrison Ford wore in The Empire Strikes Back, never made it off the auction block at a recent auction held in London, England. Bidding for the Han Solo jacket, estimated to sell at over $1,000,000 USD, never rose above £450,000 (approx. $593,000 USD).

Han’s Bespin Jacket Found in Rental House

We previously reported about the miraculous rental-house find back in August. It was then that Prop Store, the memorabilia company owning the jacket, announced it would be auctioning off the rare original trilogy prop. Ford wore the jacket aboard the Millennium Falcon and in Cloud City scenes in Empire before Han was encased in carbonite. Surprisingly, no one was willing to shell out for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a legitimate piece of Star Wars.

Han Solo Jacket Fails to Sell at Prop Auction

Photo: Prop Store

“Han Solo’s jacket… didn’t meet reserve,” Prop Store announced in a statement following the auction. As Gulf News reports, however, the company has “… had a number of post auction enquiries” already, giving Prop Store a new hope for selling Han’s trademark Bespin jacket.

The Han Solo jacket was among several Star Wars items up for bid at the auction, including Anakin Skywalker’s Revenge of the Sith lightsaber. That sold for nearly $150,000 USD. The fact that the jacket failed to sell is a bit of a departure from the norm. Star Wars items usually take top bidding at these auctions. In fact, Han’s DL-44 Heavy Blaster, featured in Return of the Jedi, sold for over half a million dollars earlier this year.

Image: AFP/Getty

This time around, however, the market for this particular piece of Star Wars memorabilia just didn’t seem to materialize. That’s too bad, because Harrison Ford is otherwise still a selling point. The top-selling item at the Auction? Ford’s Indiana Jones fedora from Raiders of the Lost Ark. That sold for over $400,000 USD. (FYI – You’ll get a chance to see Indy one last time in the upcoming fifth installment of the franchise.)

Photo: Prop Store

I guess somebody should have told Prop Store the odds of selling the Han Solo jacket before-hand. Where was Threepio when they needed him?

About The Author

Lawyer by trade, writer by passion. Author of 'The Deep Space Chronicles' series available at Amazon.com, a rambling blog at jjgoodman.blogspot.com, and musings on all things 'Star Wars' here at That Hashtag Show.